Amusement parks and other entertainment industries are continually attempting to provide the greatest excitement and realism in their entertainment offerings while maintaining minimum cost, user safety, and operator flexibility. Motion pictures have been developed to the extent that great realism may be captured and provided for audience entertainment presenting the visual appearance of roller coaster rides, flying, hang gliding, surfing, and other exciting but potentially dangerous or expensive activities. However, the lack of any physical motion in a purely visual experience does not stimulate the viewer's other senses.
Similarly, amusement park rides have been developed which provide great physical stimulation such as the various roller coasters, ferris wheels and other spinning, rotating, tracked or free-falling devices. The cost of such amusements is significant in that enormous expenditures for structural design, mechanical devices and real estate are required to set up and run such rides. Further, the visual experience is often far from stimulating in and of itself due to the limitations of the immediate scenery and the physical constraints of the ride to accommodate numerous patrons.
A combined motion and visual experience which may be readily adapted to simulate various physical experiences such as those described above provides a cost-effective approach for entertainment operators. Physical experiences which cannot be duplicated in amusement park rides and which lose in excitement with only visual presentation may be provided to the audience. Early examples of attempts to create combined motion and visual experience are represented by devices such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,861,806 for a rocket ship amusement apparatus which was invented by W. E. Disney and was ultimately installed in one embodiment in the famous Disneyland Amusement Park. A visual experience was provided to the patrons on multiple viewing screens to simulate the view from a rocket ship. Limited physical sensation was provided by actuators creating vibration under the patrons' seats. Since the range and type of motion in this device were extremely limited, the effect of the simulation while different and exciting in its time was not particularly realistic.
Similar combinations of motion and visual technology have been employed in various simulators in training roles. U.S. Pat. No. 3,486,242 to M. Aronson for an assault boat coxswain trainer is an example of such a simulator. A physical layout approximating the appearance of a coxswain station on an assault boat was coupled to actuation systems providing limited motion simulating waves, wind and currents as well as motor vibration and control sensations while a visual image to simulate motion of the device was presented on a screen in front of the model coxswain station. Similar simulators have been designed and employed for aircraft cockpit training, training of supertanker captains and pilots, and other instances where operation of the actual devices may be expensive and simulation of emergencies or other faults may be safely conducted while providing significant realism in the training.
More recent examples of entertainment applications of combined visual and motion experience are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,066,256 and 4,798,376 to Trumbull. These devices employ actuation systems which provide motion about multiple axes to seats for a plurality of patrons in combination with a visual display. The motion actuation is coupled to the visual display through a control system to provide the greatest possible realism. Each of these prior art systems requires relatively massive actuation systems with commensurately high power requirements and mechanical complexity to accommodate a large number of patrons. In addition, as greater realism is provided by allowing a greater range of motion and acceleration in actuators, safety of the patrons becomes a concern. Control of entry and exit into the seats and restraint of patrons during motion in a combined visual/motion experience is required to prevent potential injury.
To reduce operating costs, it is desirable that an entertainment theater providing a visual/motion experience be able to accommodate a varying number of patrons during peak and off-peak periods. Efficiency of operation of the actuation and control system to provide minimum cost to the operator is required. The devices in the prior art do not provide the combination of realism in a visual and motion experience, patron safety and cost-effective operation required for future development in this burgeoning entertainment area.